


Floating in Pools of Blue

by EmJayRey



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Kass's final song, Link brings it up, POV Third Person, Post-Game(s), Present Tense, Zelda doesn't know how to react, maybe a little angsty, they really only have two collective brain cells
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:14:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23825164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmJayRey/pseuds/EmJayRey
Summary: In which Link confronts Zelda about Kass's final song
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 105





	Floating in Pools of Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Link confronts Zelda about Kass's final song

They sit in silence. Not a word has been spoken between them since their reunion on Hyrule Field, just after the battle against Calamity Ganon. It hadn't been a rather auspicious reunion. Nothing like Zelda had expected, nothing like she'd hoped for.

And what exactly had she hoped for? That he would run to her, taker her in his arms and swing her around? Fall to the grass with laughter? Share a kiss?...

_Naive, foolish girl._

Instead, after she'd told him that she'd always believed he would come back and turned to face him, her hands clasped together and her heart full of hope, he'd only looked up to the sky and then announced that it would rain soon and they should begin their journey to Kakariko Village.

 _Maybe he doesn't remember_...

No. She had watched over him throughout his journey. He had freed the Divine Beasts as she'd asked of him. He traveled to each location where she'd taken the pictures on the Slate those one hundred years ago to collect the accompanying memories. He must remember her. He _must_. 

She'd planned on asking him on the field. She didn't. She wanted to ask him on the road. She couldn't. 

Now, as she watches him put together a meal for them, the warmth of the cook fire a welcome comfort against her skin, the question burns inside her mind, begging to be free. 

Her fingers are in a knot in her lap, her heart hammering inside her chest. She's been nervous around him before -primarily when she'd apologized to him for her petulant behavior after the Yiga attack- but never at quite this scale. 

"May I ask..." she begins timidly, her voice soft and uneven. He looks up from the fire, the warm light casting shadows on his stoic features, his eyes dark and unreadable. _Do you remember me, do you remember me, do you remember me_. "How much do you remember?"

He's quiet for some time as he transfers their meal from the cook pot to two bowls. Then he rises, paces to her and hands her a bowl. She whispers a soft thank you, and he sits beside her on the trunk of the long-fallen tree. 

He eats quickly and carefully -some things never change, she thinks and her heart sings- and then watches the fire thoughtfully. 

"It's like... a puzzle," he finally says, and she perks up, thankful that he's answered her and eager to hear his voice again. "Nearly all the pieces are there, connected, but there are still some missing."

 _What pieces_ , her heart demands to know. 

"Do you remember me?" It's not her title she hopes he remembers -that she was the Princess of Hyrule and he, her appointed knight- but her as a _person_. Her pain, her failures, and all the things she'd shared with him all those years ago. She wants to ask if he remembers _them_ as they were before, but she isn't sure if either of them are ready to delve into that quite yet. 

His eyes turn to hers then. So blue. So intense. There's a depth to them that almost frightens her. Like if she looks too long, they'll swallow her up.

Being swallowed by the Calamity was nothing compared to this. 

And yet, she can't look away. She doesn't want to.

"I remember you," he answers, then turns his eyes to the fire and she feels a mixture of relief and disappointment. "There's just one thing I'm still struggling to understand."

She reaches to him and places a hand against his forearm, bare and free from his sleeves and bracer at the moment. And although it's a mere shadow of the last time they'd touched -when she'd broken down in the rain and he'd held her as she'd cried, or when she'd held him at Blatchery Plain with her head bent over his chest and her tears staining his destroyed tunic- she's thankful to feel his skin against hers again. 

"I hope you know," she begins earnestly, "that I'll do whatever I can to help you piece things together. Ask me anything, and I'll do my best to answer."

He looks at her again, his eyes an ocean, an unfathomable depth with just hints of its secrets skimming across the surface. 

Uncertainty. Fear.

And pain. Still so much pain. Echoes of their past life, the tragedy they'd suffered then. A thriving Hyrule, its abundant populace, friends, rivals. All gone. So much loss. And how fresh it must feel for him, to have forgotten and then remembered just a short time ago. To have to go through all that again. She can't imagine.

But in his eyes, there's also trust - _hope_. 

"Did you love me?"

She blanches, flinching backwards, the bowl slipping from her left hand. He catches it before it makes contact with the ground, reflexes even more adept than they'd been before.

"I- oh. I'm sorry," she sputters, staring down at her empty hands, letting her hair curtain her warming cheeks.

He shrugs, wearing a small, fond smile that makes her heart flutter foolishly. He stands, taking both bowls and begins to clean them over the fire. She peeks up at him and watches the shadows dance across his profile.

"You said you watched me in my trials," he says, his eyes never leaving the task at hand. "How much did you see?"

"I only looked to you occasionally," she tells him in a small voice. She doesn't explain that that's all she allowed herself. That, in the beginning, it was too painful to look at the man she had loved only to see a stranger. Then, once he was beginning to remember, that the hope had felt suffocating -the hope that the man who came to save her would be the same man who she'd known all those years ago. How it breaks her heart now, that she still isn't sure if he remembers the depth of their relationship, if he truly remembers _her_. 

"Time passed differently for me. Years passed in the span of a single thought." She lightly rubs her palms against her thighs, trying to keep her hands from shaking. "I was aware of your freeing the Divine Beasts. _Thank_ _you_ , Link. Thank you for freeing our friends. And I was aware of your remembering the memories associated with the images I left for you on the Slate. I was aware of your presence near the castle just today. As for everything in between?" She waves her hand in the air to insinuate that it's unclear.

She notices that his shoulders relax at that. It's so subtle that she probably shouldn't have noticed, but she'd spent so long watching him, trying to understand him through his gestures instead of the words he wouldn't say, that she couldn't possibly miss it now. 

"I met a Rito named Kass," he says casually. "I spent a week traveling to different places across Hyrule and listening to his songs. Were you aware of any of that?"

She shakes her head softly. It's still spinning from his blatant question. She can barely make herself ask if he even remembers her and he asks her _that_? 

How long has he known? Is that why he so quickly changed the subject on Hyrule field, why he can't seem to look at her now? Is he disgusted? Mortified? 

"I'll have to introduce you to him. He lives in Rito Village with his wife and six daughters." The bowls are clean now, and he stoops to tuck them into his pack that lays on the ground near her feet. "He learned the songs from his master, the bard from the castle. I'm sure you remember him."

"Vaguely." She draws out the word. There's a certain tone to his voice that she can't quite place. "Is there a reason I should remember him?"

He scoffs, sitting back down beside her. "He was _in_ _love_ with you."

"The bard?" She balks. "No. You're mistaken."

"I'm not. Kass told me of it. And how the bard was heartbroken because-" He snaps his mouth shut, his teeth audibly clicking together, and he looks pointedly into the fire again. She waits him out, watching as his jaw loosens. "Because you only had eyes for someone else."

She swallows thickly, her fingers in knots again in her lap and her gaze on the flames. She needs something else to focus on. Not his hands, bare with fingers tapping restlessly against his thighs. Not his eyes, dark and knowing. Not their proximity, just inches between their shoulders. And definitely not his mouth, the way his lips move to form each syllable, the way he's asking if she loves him.

When she stays silent, he continues slowly. "His final song... _the princess's love for her fallen knight awakens her power_." He turns to her and she can't help it. Her gaze is drawn to his. Reflections of the flames dance in shadowed pools of blue. "Is it true?" 

Oh, her heart is thunderous, deafening in her ears. She can feel it in her throat, stealing away her voice. But she told him she'd answer any questions he might have. She told him she'd help him piece it together. And this is a pivotal piece. 

Finally, she sighs, let's her lips fall open and says, "Yes."

"So you did love me."

"Yes."

She feels a bit lighter after the admission, but the new dread cancels it out. She cradles her head in her hands. What does he think of her? A teenage princess, falling for her untouchable appointed knight. The scandal it could have been if the secret had gotten out. The trouble she could have gotten him in. Her father had already believed she was too distracted from her devotions -by the Guardians, the Divine Beasts, and her research. But what would he have possibly thought of _that_? Link could have lost his _head_ because of her, regardless if the feelings were mutual or not. Surely he thinks her childish, imprudent. Foolish. 

"You must know," she says quickly, feeling like she needs to defend herself, "my life was not what I wanted it to be. I was getting no where with my devotions, my prayers were useless. My research led to dead end after dead end. You heard what my father said to me. I was a _failure_." She lifts her head and turns to look at him. Their knees touch. "You were a great comfort to me, my _only_ comfort perhaps. I spoke to Urbosa when I could, but she never quite understood like you did. I loved her -I loved them _all_ \- but it was _you_. You and I against the Calamity. All my struggles, all my fears..." She places a hand on his knee and his eyes fall quickly to it before rising to meet hers again. "I couldn't have done any of it without you."

"It was my pleasure," he whispers, his eyes intense. 

She smiles softly, carefully, and draws her hand away. Perhaps this won't be so bad. Perhaps things don't have to be different. Perhaps they can start new and see where it leads them in this lifetime. They finally have the time.

"Do you still love me now?"

"I..." She exhales a short breath, closes her eyes. Her heart is sinking, further and further into despair. But she won't lie to him, so she tenses, preparing herself for the consequences of her confession. "My love for you was the only thing to sustain me those one hundred years. I'm sorry. I hope this doesn't change anything between us. I know our relationship didn't begin very graciously, but the friendship we forged was _everything_ to me. I value it now more than ever. I just hope that we can continue to be friends."

"Is that what you want?" He looks confused, hurt even, and her heart clenches painfully.

Of course it's not what she wants. She wants more, she's always wanted more. But this isn't about what she wants. Being led by a sword and his charge, both tied to a destiny he couldn't deny, he'd never had a say. Perhaps that's why he so rarely spoke...

"What do _you_ want?" She asks him softly.

"Whatever you want."

She huffs, rolls her eyes. "Link, don't be so difficult. What do you want?"

He chuckles, but then his brow furrows slightly. "Do you really not know?"

She doesn't answer, she just stares at him, dumbfounded. His hand raises slowly to touch her face, rough fingertips just grazing the soft skin of her cheekbone. His eyes, Goddesses, his _eyes_. Deep and dark. He leans toward her -his hand moving minutely to cup her face, his fingers in the hair behind her ear- and she hears herself gasp, feels herself slipping away, falling into the depths. She's willing, she has been for over a century. 

It seems like her galloping heart is drowning out everything around them, but she hears his voice clearly when he murmurs her name. Not her title -not Princess- but her name. _Zelda_. 

It isn't until his lips touch hers that she allows her eyes to slip closed, allows herself to let go and float in these uncharted waters. She hums softly against his mouth, her jaw falling slack, her lips slipping open. His hand tightens in her hair, and when she feels the other grip her hip, she reaches for him, holding him close, her hands fisted in the fabric of his tunic at his back. She wants to never let him go. She wants to tie herself to him so that they can float out here forever. 

His grip loosens, their kiss slows, and he leans back to study her face. The smile that spreads across his face is brighter and more powerful than any golden light. And it's better than any gift granted by the Goddesses. 

"I've wanted to do that from the moment I first saw you," he confesses, his hand sliding softly down her neck and resting on her bare shoulder. 

"You- you..." she falters. 

"I've loved you from the start, Zelda. Even when you hated me, even when the world came crashing down, even when I'd forgotten everything. I loved you before I _knew_ I loved you."

"But you never _said_ anything..."

"How _could_ I?" 

It's true -she was just thinking it herself- that the repercussions would have been devastating. But she still stares at him wide-eyed, still can't believe he's saying this to her. 

"I dreamed of telling you," he continues. "That night in the Spring of Power-"

"You pulled me from the waters and told me there was nothing wrong with me," she whispers breathlessly. At the time she'd thought he'd meant it in regards to her inability to harness the Power, but now she realizes that there had been so much more depth to his words. 

"I should have said more. I should have-"

She touches his face and shushes him gently. "We cannot change the past. We can only move forward. There is so much to be done and surely many more obstacles to face along the way." She leans back and puts on a face of faux authority, poking him firmly in the chest. "And if you _ever_ leave my side again..."

He raises an eyebrow and catches her hand. His skin is hot against hers. "What will you do about it, Princess?"

There's a darkness in his eyes, a suggestion in his voice that she finds herself desperately wanting to chase, but it's late and they both need to rest. Her body still feels weak from one hundred years of misuse, and his is worn down from battle, battered and bruised. But she smiles, because she knows there is no rush. They have plenty of time to explore this new turn in their relationship.

"Pray you never have to find out."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The way I wrote Zelda was very heavily influenced by MaryDragon's fic Trouble the Water. If you haven't read that yet, do it right now! You will not regret it!


End file.
